On Tuesdays and Thursdays this month, team staffers are attending what’s being called Sabres University. It’s a program that has Sabres employees acting as teachers for their colleagues, with courses ranging from “Salary Cap and Player Transactions” and “Media Buying” to “Fitness and Nutrition” and “Photoshop for Beginners.”

Sabres University was created in response to team owner Terry Pegula’s mandate to use the downtime during the lockout to become better as an organization. Sabres staffers have not sustained any layoffs or pay cuts as a result of the lockout.

“Terry told us to use this time wisely and find ways to improve how we do business,” said Sabres President Ted Black, who is joining general manager Darcy Regier as the “professors” of a class in public speaking. “We figured this program fits in with the culture here to make this a destination for players and employees.”

The idea was hatched after Brent Rossi, the team’s vice president of marketing, returned from a social media symposium in New York last month. Rossi told Black it might be instructive to pass along what he learned at the seminar. The two executives decided they should not stop there. After a few weeks of planning, the curriculum of Sabres University included more than 30 courses.

“Everyone has a binder, a class schedule, everything you’d expect from a school,” said Rossi, who is leading the class on media buying and one on social media. “There’s a buzz around the organization and everyone’s really into it. When we took the idea to the staff, there wasn’t a shortage of ideas for subjects or volunteers to teach.”

The program involves the Sabres’ full front-office staff of more than 100 employees. Each class is between 45 minutes and 60 minutes in length, and all sessions are held during business hours at the team’s First Niagara Center home, where the Sabres’ offices are.

Some courses, including “Customer Service Training,” “Risk Management” and “History of the Sabres,” are mandatory for all employees. Others, including “The Scouting Process” and “Putting the Ice in Hockey” (ice installation), are electives, available for those interested.

Each course is three credits, and employees must earn 30 credits to “pass” the November semester.

“I don’t foresee anyone not graduating,” Black said. “The classes filled up right away.” Then he joked, “It seems the higher the ‘professor’ is in the executive directory, the more popular his or her classes are.”

For example, 50 “students” are expected to fill each of two 45-minute sessions on Thursday this week for a course titled “What Ownership Means.” The class is taught by Kim Pegula, Terry’s wife. According to the curriculum, the course will “reinforce the Sabres’ organizational philosophy, and the mission of the company and our ownership as a whole.”

Among other courses, “Strength Training” is being taught by Sabres assistant conditioning coach J.T. Allaire; “Media Training” by longtime public relations vice president Michael Gilbert; “Behind the Scenes of a Sabres Broadcast” by announcer Brian Duff and others; and “The Evolution of Sports Sponsorship and Its Impact on Our Organization” by John Livsey, vice president of sales and business development.

Management has already decided that the adult education will be an annual staple. There are plans to conduct sessions next summer.

And the students are not the only beneficiaries of Sabres University. Said Black: “We’re finding that the opportunity to stand in front of your colleagues and teach what you do is very empowering.”